by Douglass C. North, John Joseph Wallis and Barry R. Weingast. Reading for week of April 19, 2004.
The fundamental question of both economic history and economic development can be asked in two ways: how did a handful of countries achieve sustained rates of economic growth and development in the late 18th and early 19th centuries? And why have most nations failed to achieve sustained economic growth? This essay seeks a general answer to the second question.
Download file: PERG.North.pdf
Published: Tuesday, April 12, 2005